The aim of the initiative is to make the capital a more modern and environmentally friendly city. In the next two years, The Municipal Society of Technology of the Capital City of Prague (THMP) plans to add several hundred public lighting poles from which electric vehicles can be recharged. This initiative builds on a pilot project for which THMP had collaborated with electricity supplier PREdistribuce in Vinohrady, Prague to create 13 EV charging streetlight points last year. This project has been spread over six years with the hopes of installing around 3,000 to 6,000 streetlight EV charging points in the country. Within two years, THMP aims to add over 400 of these lamp posts in 12 selected regions. According to THMP’s website, the City Hall Councillor Jan Chabr estimates that by 2030, there will be around 500 to 700 thousand electric vehicles in the Czech Republic. Moreover, he explained that at least one-fifth of these vehicles will run on Prague’s streets. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of THMP Tomáš Jílek stated that the installation of the streetlight charging points must “make sense in all respects”. As a result, the THMP has coordinated the selection of the installation sites and localities with...
With new infections soaring due to a highly contagious coronavirus variant and hospitals filling up, the Czech Republic announced a new series of measures “to protect the lives of our citizens.” “We have to do it to prevent a total collapse of our hospitals,” PM Babis said. “If we don’t do it, the whole world will watch Bergamo in the Czech Republic.” The measures, coming into effect on Monday, include limiting people’s movement to only their residential districts, except for essential trips. Pre-schools will close and first- and second-graders will shift to online classes like other students. “If it’s possible, stay at home,” Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said. Hamacek said the measure will be enforced by police and military forces. If people go out for sports or just for a walk, they should not leave their municipality. Further measures include the closure of nursery schools and schools for children with disabilities that until now have remained open. Also, only the stores with essential goods will remain open. Health Minister Blatny said people will have to wear face coverings outdoor in towns and cities all the time and also at work. To help the struggling health system and prevent a collapse,...
Vaccines have been delivered to doctors around Prague since Thursday by a collaborative effort of the Young Practitioners Association, online supermarket delivery company Rohlík.cz, and a dozen of other distribution companies. Rohlík spokeswoman Zdeněka Svoboda Kuhnová confirmed the company’s collaboration with the association. Tomáš Čupr, CEO of Rohlík, stated that “in the first place, it didn’t seem apparent that help was needed to deliver the vaccines. Until, of course, the Young Practitioners Association took it upon themselves to ask for aid. Currently, there are 3600 vaccines for less than 200 general practitioners in Prague.” “We got a response from a lot of companies. We took advantage of Rohlík’s offer because they probably had the most sophisticated distribution system. But it’s not just them, of course. There are several distributors. Everyone does it for free,” adds Mucha from the Young Practitioners Association. Moreover, according to Mucha, nothing inaccessible and special is needed to transport the said vaccines. If the distributor is in possession of a refrigerator or a cooling system that maintains the correct temperature needed for the vaccines, then it’s practically enough. “All drivers also have food licenses, and in fact, Rohlík drivers are normally used to driving some medications,”...
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš will meet with the opposition tomorrow morning and ask for an extension of the state of emergency. “The measures we want to apply cannot be implemented without a state of emergency,” Babiš said. “We must limit people’s mobility as much as possible for three weeks and minimize people-to-people contacts,” he added. “We will introduce a ban on movement between regions with some exceptions, such as travel to work.” The Czech government plans to close schools and kindergartens, as well. “We expect that despite the new measures, there will be an increase in the number of hospitalized next week. We are discussing possible assistance with Germany and Poland,” said the Health Minister Jan Blatny. “Moreover, from March 1, respirators will be mandatory in public transport, and shops. Two surgical masks will not be enough.” From March 1, the Czech state will compensate the costs of four speed tests per employee or self-employed person per month. According to the Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček (ANO), businesses and companies will be able to buy the tests from certified manufacturers. Havlíček has previously said that the price of one test ranges from 60 to 150 crowns. According to...
The construction of the world-class Vltava Philharmonic concert hall in Prague’s Holešovice neighborhood is one step closer to realization, as Prague city councillors have approved the continuation of the project. The approval was based on a usability study completed by an international consortium led by the renowned Henning Larsen studio, in collaboration with AEA and Buro Happold. The project will now move to the Prague City Assembly; if it gets the green light there, preparations will begin for an international architectural competition. The competition would be announced in the second half of 2021. It will be preceded by a detailed analysis on the financing of the Philharmonic’s operations. “Prague is not just an open-air museum merely capitalising on its rich history. New projects are essential for sustainable development. Our city also needs modern architecture through which our generation – with great humility – will complement the work of those who came before us. We are now another step closer to building the new Vltava Philharmonic concert hall, and I look forward to seeing its final form,” says Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib. According to the recommendations from the analysis, the Vltava Philharmonic building should include three halls: the main concert hall for...
An amendment will be signed by President Miloš Zeman that will grant financial aid in the form of a bonus bill for small business owners and their associates 1000 CZK per day, while employees will be given 500 CZK per day. Moreover, those whose sales have decreased by at least 50% will receive support as well. On that note, applicants must present Czech health insurance to receive it. This bonus is not linked to the state of emergency and will be paid for the months of February and March. The government will also be mandated by law to introduce additional bonus periods corresponding to one additional calendar month at the most by the end of the year 2021. The new bonus bill will technically be a refundable tax on income from dependent activities. Czech’s Ministry of Finance Alena Schillerová estimates that the impact of this new bonus bill on public finances will be 19.4 billion CZK in the months of February and March, of which 18 billion CZK will be on the state budget, 1.1 billion CZK on municipal budgets and 0.4 billion CZK on regional budgets. “Of course they will have to prove that their income has been harmed,...
This evening at 18.00, the Czech government will discuss and possibly decide whether issue a stricter lockdown or not, since a hearing held on Wednesday had not produced an official decision. New rules and restrictions can only be known if the government successfully negotiates later tonight. However, from what was gathered at Wednesday’s hearing, kindergartens in the Czech Republic could be closed, and only facilities for the children of paramedics and emergency workers would continue to operate. Pupils in the first and second grades of primary schools should also stop going to schools. The cabinet is also considering restricting movement between regions or within a certain distance of residence. Some shops that were still open could also close. According to PM Andrej Babiš, lockdown needs to be tightened up, because the current rules are not preventing the Covid-19 pandemic from worsening. Opposition groups have requested that the cabinet submit the forthcoming measures with a specific justification. The cabinet has agreed on the scope of the measures, and on Thursday the relevant departments will prepare definitive texts, which ministers will present to the opposition. According to Hamaček, the government will also ask the House not to end the state of emergency...
France will provide 100,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to the Czech Republic by mid-March, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis told CTK news agency on Thursday. The Czech Republic has been struggling with a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic in the past weeks, ranking among the worst-hit countries in the world in terms of infections and deaths from the global pandemic. “We have been trying for a long time to get some extra doses, in Israel we managed to get them as a donation. France has now promised us 100,000 vaccines by March 15,” confirmed the prime minister. Five thousand doses of the Moderna vaccine that arrived from Israel this week will be administered to soldiers working with Covid patients. The Czech government will likely impose on Thursday tougher restrictions after Prime Minister Andrej Babis warned that hospitals faced “catastrophe” if no action is taken. Over the past week, the Czech Republic has had the highest per capita infection rate in the world and second-highest death rate, according to the Our World in Data website. European Union leaders are gathering Thursday to try to inject new energy into the bloc´s lagging coronavirus vaccination efforts as concern mounts that new variants might spread...
In August 1968, Warsaw Pact soldiers invaded Czechoslovakia in response to the government’s reform movement known as the Prague Spring. In protest, Jan Palach doused himself in petrol and set himself alight in this place on January 16, 1969. He survived for three days. A hunger strike followed Palach’s self-immolation, participated in by his friend and fellow student, Jan Zajíc. On the 21st anniversary of the Communist takeover (25 February 1969) Zajíc lit himself on fire in the passageway of a building on Wenceslas Square. Unable to get out of the building, he collapsed and died in the hallway. Jan Zajíc Jan Zajíc (July 3, 1950 – February 25, 1969) was a student of the Střední průmyslová škola železniční technical college in Šumperk, specializing in railroads, and was also interested in poetry and humanities. On the day of the twenty-first anniversary of the Communist takeover (25 February 1969), he travelled to Prague accompanied by three other students. He took part in the student-led protests and hunger strikes at Wenceslas Square leading up to Jan Palach’s funeral. He announced his intentions to immolate himself to his friends. None took him seriously. He had several letters challenging the people to fight against...
TYKO SAY, a Prague-based writer for the poetics collective OBJECT:PARADISE, Z.s. is projecting words of hope and solidarity from a balcony nightly from the 23rd of February until March 2nd, viewable from Tower Park in Vinohrady. The piece titled We, which is composed of lines that can be read negatively but also positively from the perspective of the Covid-19 restrictions will be projected at Ondříčkova 32 but viewable from the entire square. The objective of the project is to encourage onlookers to recognize the qualities they have gained in isolation. Phrases like “We keep vacuuming our homes” and “We cry secretly in the other room while our girlfriend sleeps to not wake her”, encourage onlookers to think about their own habits and tendencies that they have gained during isolation which seem negative at first, but are ultimately a force of good. OBJECT:PARADISE, Z.s., aims to incorporate poetry and poetic happenings in the daily lives of Praguers, encouraging the breakdown of the conceptual “poet” and “audience” by placing poetry happenings in public spaces. In June last year, OBJECT:PARADISE held a similar event, Tunnel Vision(s), in the Starý Vítkovský Tunel, where over 100 people gathered to experience a fusion of language and...
The Czech Republic will ban travel to several African and South American countries where there is a high risk from new South African or Brazilian coronavirus variants, the government said on Wednesday. The government is seeking to slow a fast-rising COVID-19 infection rate that has put stress on the central European country’s hospitals. Lawmakers have debated tighter measures to combat the spread. The health ministry said the travel ban would be in effect from Feb. 26 to April 11, with some exceptions. It includes Botswana, Brazil, Swaziland, South Africa, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, including the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The ministry has reported some new COVID-19 infections suspected to be from the South African variant but has not confirmed those cases. Latest statistics The health ministry recorded 13,657 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, up from 10,932 cases a week earlier. The official death toll from COVID-19 has reached 19,835, a rise of 153 from a day earlier which also includes revisions to previous days, according to ministry data. In total, 1.198 million infections have been recorded since March 2020. Current hospitalizations stand at 6,967, more than double the government’s target level, and 1,432 were in...
LATEST: The Czech government has not decided on a possible tightening of measures. The meeting will continue on Thursday from 6 pm. From March 1, the Czech state will compensate the costs of four speed tests per employee or self-employed person per month. According to the Minister of Industry and Trade Karel Havlíček (ANO), businesses and companies will be able to buy the tests from certified manufacturers. Havlíček has previously said that the price of one test ranges from 60 to 150 crowns. According to Wednesday’s statement by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO), the state should contribute 60 crowns per test. Employers will be obliged to report all positively tested workers to hygiene stations. Havlíček assumes that the monthly costs for the Czech state will be around 600 million crowns. He also estimates that testing could affect about 1.88 million people, so around 7.5 million tests could be performed every month. According to health insurance companies, employees should be tested by general practitioners or at collection centers. Od 1.3. kompenzujeme plošné testování ve firmách a rovněž u OSVČ. Každý zaměstnanec nebo živnostník získá příspěvek na čtyři rychlotesty/měsíc. Právě jsme schválili na vládě. — Karel Havlíček (@KarelHavlicek_) February 24, 2021...
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